Yesterday, as the Brexit chaos and the Conservative infighting continued to engulf Westminster, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released its latest GVA (gross value added) figures.

This data shows economic performance across the UK. The latest figures are for the year 2017, and show that Cornwall still has the lowest economic performance of any nation in the United Kingdom.

In 2017, England had a GVA per head (income report) of £27,949, which was 102.8% of the UK average, followed by Scotland with a GVA of £25,685 (94.5%). Doing less well were Northern Ireland and Wales, with GVA figures of £21,237 (78.1%) and £19,705 (72.5%) respectively.

By comparison, the figure for Cornwall was only £18,458, which was 67.9% of the UK average.

Surely such figures once again show that it is time for Westminster MPs to look up from their squabbling and to finally focus on winning a better deal and achieving economic fairness for Cornwall.

There are so many truly wonderful aspects to Cornwall’s identity and culture, and I personally consider that the most important factor in our distinctiveness to be the Cornish language. This is because, to me, the continued existence of our own Celtic language, emphasises that we have a national identity, rather than simply a regional or county character.

Cornwall Council recently published an impact assessment on the so-called “devolution deal,” that was agreed between it and the UK Government in 2015. The document sets out what has happened over the last three years or so.